The Road to 40 Day 200/365: Learning to Teach

I love kids, especially my kid, but I don’t think I have the patience to be a teacher.

Vino is at an age where I can still teach him some things in school, so I’m trying to make a habit of taking some time in the afternoon to work on some academics. It’s not exactly Kumon, but at least it’s something.

Whenever I teach him, though, I have such a short fuse. I think he’s a smart kid – not because he’s my kid, but because of the skills he shows. Since he was little, he was always very good at memorization. At some point, he knew all the trains that were friends of Thomas the Train.

He has also demonstrated his ability to understand game concepts and lore. In movies, he would point out some small details we may not have noticed, especially after he has watched something at least twice.

So when he can’t answer 3×6 or 4+7 within five seconds, I get frustrated. He probably knows, but his mind is somewhere else.

Much of our after-school refresher sessions are just talks confirming if he understands the questions or not. I get mad because he knows so much about useless things (Roblox game lores, skins, etc) but can’t answer relatively simple questions.

Apart from our afternoon study sesh, he also had an episode in school.

I picked him up and he asked to play with friends. Not two minutes have passed until one of his friends came back to tell me that he accidentally tripped and was asking for me.

I arrived to a scene with him on the floor, a teacher talking to him, and two boys playing with a small ball nearby.

Vino said someone tripped him, which triggered me a bit. But I had to listen to the situation first.

It appears that he was running with his friends, until one of the boys with the ball maybe stepped in accidentally on his path, causing him to trip.

Personally, I was pissed that that boy did not even try to find help and just continued playing. I don’t know if it’s home values or school values that were lacking.

I brushed it off, but it left a nasty gash on Vino’s elbow.

I’m not the most athletic guy, and I never had any formal training on anything. I did play a lot outside, which I think gives me confidence to pull off free running if I’m given the chance. I told Vino that in order to avoid these accidents, it would be best if he treated everything like a game of tag. It will help him develop his spatial awareness (I hope) and avoid unexpected obstacles he might encounter.

As much as I’m around him, I can’t protect him all the time, so he must learn how to take care of himself.

I also told him the power of words. Saying “someone tripped me” is way different than “I tripped on someone.” He might get another person in trouble if he uses the wrong words.

My day doesn’t usually have a lot going on, so even if it’s a personal blog, there are days like these when it’s mostly about Vino than me.

While he was in school, I was just cleaning up the kitchen and loading stuff in the washing machine. In the process, I started watching The Last Samurai Standing.

The best way I could explain it is like a live-action Samurai X, but basically Squid Games of samurai in Japan’s restoration era.

Action is fierce, and the progression isn’t so bad. If anything, I regret watching it because now I want a second season.

We were able to retreat to the room earlier than usual, but Vino was watching something, so he still fell asleep at around 10:30pm. He did say he wanted to get up early, so we’ll see if he pushes through.